Today you should read: 1 Kings 3:1-15
Many of us are parents. As I am writing this I am not a parent but by the time you read this I will be. Crazy to think that. As parents we have a huge job to do. Our kids come to us ready and primed for instruction, training and direction. It is our God-given job to be the primary givers of those things in our kids’ lives. None of us is perfect but I am willing to bet we all want our kids to grow up to be successful, happy and fulfilled in some way. As believers, we know that these things are found as we walk obediently in a relationship with Jesus. If that is true, then our job is to show them how to do that in hopes that they follow our instruction and example. Remember, “More is caught than taught.” Your kids need to see you living this life in order to really grasp what it looks like.
We see this in today’s passage. Solomon is talking with God and is reminiscing about his father, David’s, walk with God and how he lived a life that wasn’t perfect, but was sold out to God. This, along with instruction in wisdom and justice, helped Solomon make the right choice when faced with a big decision. He could have asked for wealth, long life, victory in battle, etc. but he asked for wisdom and discernment. He knew what was really important and knew it because of his father’s life and legacy. I don’t know about you, but I would love for this to happen to me and my child. I would love to see my child make the best and wisest decisions in life, just as I had taught and trained them to. So how can you set your kids up for success? Here are some basic steps to get you started.
- Teach the gospel to them and live the gospel in front of them. They have to know Jesus before they can walk with Him
- Follow the Deuteronomy 6 principles- God has not left us without some instruction on how to impress His word on our kids. Read Deuteronomy 6:1-9. Pretty clear about what to do.
- Regularly spend time with your kids one on one for discipleship. Your kids need regular alone time with a parent for intentional teaching and discipleship (preferably both, but primarily dad if he is in the picture).
- Continue to coach and support your kids as they get older, but allow them to experience some failures and consequences. Parents naturally want to shield our kids from any hurt, pain and consequence. This seems, on the surface, to be a good thing but is actually not. The world will not be so kind to them and once you are out of the driver’s seat of their life they will not be ready to face such a world.
- Prayer. Parents should regularly pray for their kids at least from the time they are born until you die. God knows what is best for them so it is important for you to always bring them before Him.
There are many other principles and practices you can do but if you at least do these things you will be on the right track to raising a child that will not leave what you have taught them (Proverbs 22:6).
Posted by: Robbie Byrd
JumpstartCPC.com 